Looking back: London Ontario, seasons, campus, grad club

Looking back through my collection of paintings from 20+ years ago, here is a scene of a fancy building in London Ontario with a slate roof. The snow was melting that day I recall, and the painting conditions were excellent. Its a subtle range of neutral beige, yellow and violet, with stark contrast of sun-lit snow. I had a nice touch back then when things came together. 

Slate roof snow melt, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press

 

A neat composition, with poppies in the foreground and the art building, new at the time, in the background. I did a series of paintings from this location from different angles, probably towards 2003 or 2004 the year I left London for Montreal. 

Poppies art building, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press

 

From a similar location, but back in the tree line, I caught this view looking at the rear of the art building and Middlesex college in the background. The University of Western campus was really well maintained. It looks like Spring time.  

Forest art building Middlesex college,  watercolour 5 x 7" cold press

 

A more detailed view of the iconic clock tower, seen behind green trees, probably a summer painting. 

Middlesex college overcast, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press

 

And one of my favorite places to go, its the grad club... graduate club, not much of a club, rather a pub where students and professors hung out and drank beer on tap. A large tent with many long picnic tables on a large stone patio off the back off the Middlesex college building. Its here that I once bragged to my friends about painting at least 5,000 paintings, to which they reacted with disbelief. And rightly so, by my recent count I was probably only at around 500 paintings by then! Now its getting over 8000, but like 25 years later lol. I'll have to arrange a reunion just to give them a more accurate update, and maybe have a pint. 

Grad club, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press

 

Falaise pathway and Lachine canal scene

Here are a few more paintings from the weekend. The first ones were done from the Falaise escarpment bike and pedestrian path. Its a wide gravel path running parallel with the train tracks and the escarpment which has st Jacques street at the top. Where I am standing, about in the middle of the 2km path, it has a fork that goes up into the forest and opens up onto the sidewalk near the Akhavan grocery store. You can see the winding path up the hill in this blog. 

Falaise path wildflowers trees, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, August 2026

 

Same location looking due south, you see tracks and highway in the middle ground, and a gantry crane in the background which set along side the Lachine canal (unseen). I reduced foliage in the foreground to show the landscape, its actually pretty heavily grown now. They restored this area about four or five years ago now.  

Tracks highway gantry crane, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, August 2026

 

You can see part of Notre Dame street and the Kruger cardboard recycling plant off to the left, with a gravel field full of wildflowers on the right center and bottom. This gravel field becomes more grown each year, now small trees are taking root. The city plans to turn all of it into some kind of managed forest with access points for visitors. Its a shame, I'd like to see how it retores itself naturally after being a highway for 75+ years. I made several paintings around here, including my favorite one of cosmos flowers.  

Wild flowers Kruger warehouse, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, August 2026 

 

I did more paintings than I thought yesterday... here is one of the view into Kruger cardboard recycling. Their are great stacks of shredded paper and cardboard, with heavy industrial cylinder-silos in the background. They installed an official 'viewing port' in the fence, so I thought somebody like me should use it to make a painting!

Kruger plant overcast, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, August 2026   

 

And a scene of the good old Lachine canal, with a busy bike path on the lower left. The red deck-chairs in the background are quite popular, and people picnic around here in the summer. 

Lachine canal bikes pedestrians, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, August 2026  

A few scenes painted down in Verdun

Here is a typical scene from Verdun, lots of green and brown, its Lasage street which runs parallel with the aqueduct. Streets are wide and many of the buildings are two or three-story condos around here, with some aluminum siding. In the background, there are massive power lines that I downplayed in the paintings. 

Lasage street wide view, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, August 2026

Looking in the other direction, standing near the pizza shop, I made a painting of this spiralling stair case with white iron railings. Like a DNA double helix, it swooped around with rows of steps. Its a hard thing to paint so I just went with the shape and theme of it without too much concern. Today's sky was a murky blue-green with wispy clouds. 

Lasage street vertical view, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, August 2026

This wall is red, no doubt for covering graffiti. Someone (PJD26) had painted their name over top. The old factory is now an art studio, and some other small business sharing the ample space. These artisan-factory converts are always under threat of development. Its on the corner with Hickson street. 

Old factory red wall, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, August 2026

Its a rare painting of the aqueduct. Most of the views are blocked by tall plants all along, and the bridge views are rather noisy and unpleasant locations. Today the Sunday traffic was light. To make the water colour I blend dilute phthalo blue (PB15) with raw umber (PBr7). I got a new tube of raw umber by Daniel Smith from the Kama pigment company by mail order awhile ago. Its a chocolatey brown colour like fresh earth or dark ground coffee.  

Aqueduct curve, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, August 2026

Turcot interchange: painting with grass

Its not what you might think, although, it looks like it. Actually, I got out to location in a bit of a rush and forgot to bring my paint brushes. The last time this happened I used a fork to paint a scene of the PERFORM Centre on campus in winter, and it turned out okay. This time, I saw some grass nearby, it was the kind of grass with bushy seed pods on top, so it kind of worked to smear paint on the paper. The other end of the grass provided sharper details. After some time I started to get the hang of it. At least the 'paint brushes' were bio-degradable. You can see some of the grass seeds up in the sky of the painting.  

Turcot interchange with grass, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, August 2026

Bike ride around the islands, full circle

Riding my bike along Maissoneuve bike path and down Peel, I found my way out to st Helen's island where they have the amusement park. It was built, the island that is, for Expo 67 using the excavated earth from Decarie highway. Since the connector-path along the south seaway was finally open, I could keep riding to where the Champlain bridge is at, and over the ice control bridge back to Montreal. In this scene, my favorite on the day, you see a remnant structure of the old Champlain bridge, with the new Champlain bridge sweeping across the background. 

Old Champlain bridge remnant, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, August 2026

On the center left is the Island Bridge, connecting st Helen to Notre dame islands, with a view of Montreal condos in the background. So I am standing over in Notre dame island near the race track, which is used for bikes this time of year. 

Island Bridge city-scape, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, August 2026

The Villeneuve race track is used for car racing once a year, but people on fast, expensive bikes wearing spandex use it for the rest of the summer. I made this painting looking west, with part of the Island bridge visible at the top. I used just a few brush strokes for the cyclists, leaving some white spots open when I put the wash down for the track. 

Fast bikes track, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, August 2026

The river that runs between ile Notre Dame and the south shore is called the Monks channel... it has chunks of rock all along its banks, with fast flowing water. When the sun shines, the water takes on a pleasant turquoise colour that I always enjoy. 

Turquoise river, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, August 2026

This was a challenging scene to paint, it shows part of the Victoria bridge, and that's the Montreal shore on the other side of the st Lawrence river. I was standing under the bridge next to the bike path looking up, and cars were visible through the steel grating. It made quite a noise too, so I painted fast and moved on to the next spot.

Cars overhead, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, August 2026 

Curio Folio: Potateor

You may have heard about today's partial eclipse, star alignment, and meteor shower, but what about the falling potateor? It was only visible from a narrow part of the sky directly above my apartment, and I could see it clearly with my telescope. Since the telescope does not have a camera, I made a painting of the scene from direct observation. It was an odd shape for a meteor, very potato like as it crashed through the upper atmosphere down towards earth. It took on a charred appearance then broke into pieces and landed in our back yard. Slices of the meteor were a crispy golden-brown with the aroma of french fries. Piles of debris were rather like mashed potato. I dared to taste a bit and sure enough... potato! How a giant potato-meteor (potateor) ever came to be in space we may never know, perhaps a tech-billionaire launched it into space for reasons unknown, or there are aliens that fly via potato ships. At any rate, it makes a wonderful addition to my curio folio of things you have never heard about, but absolutely really exist in real life. 

Curio Folio Potateor, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, August 2026

Westhaven field and flowers

At the end of Harley street int he Westhaven neighborhood, there is a field belonging to Loyola College, and it contains a community garden called Collectif - Le Dépot Garden. I've painted there many times before, too many to count,  because its a very relaxing and beautiful place to paint the trees, grass and flowers, and its nearby my office over at the Concordia University campus. Here are links you can click to a brown chair in the field, another scene of flowers, and a painting of the community garden. 

Field and flowers Collectif, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, August 2026

 

Today I talked to one of the community members who maintains gardens, and is active in preserving the use of the land for community, her name is Cynthia, I first talked to her last year. Today she gave me some dried brown eyed Susan-type flowers which contains seeds I plan to add into our local 'garden street corner' they installed up on Somerled. She also is writing a land use report and wanted to include a painting or two in the report. I gladly offered her to right-click a few images and use in a report. I really appreciate this space and wish the continued success of all the locals who volunteer to keep it going. 

Hydrant field and flowers Collectif, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, August 2026